Since the 1999 war against Yugoslavia and the incursion into and destabilization of Macedonia from NATO-occupied Kosovo two years later, the U.S. and NATO have ordered the deployment of troops from its new "partners" in the Balkans, five of which have been now become full NATO members (Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Albania and Croatia), to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as to Central Africa (Chad and the Central African Republic), Lebanon and elsewhere under European Union auspices.
Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian, Romanian and Slovenian troops have served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and remain in the second country. New mini-state Montenegro's Western-backed independence was only effected in 2006 and so the nation is too young to have had its troops dragooned into the Iraq debacle. But not the Afghan war, for which forces have already been assigned.
Washington's and NATO's turnaround time is breathtaking. Three years after a state of no more than 700,000 people declares itself an independent nation its citizens are already being trained for a war over 4,000 kilometers away. [5]
Earlier this month the governor of the American state of Maine said "the state hosted an official delegation from Montenegro, one of the world's newest democracies, just a few days ago. The Maine National Guard has a partnership program that's helping to transition Montenegro's military into a professional force that can participate in NATO missions." [6]
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen plans a tour of the Balkans next month, in part to recruit troops for the Afghan war, and Montenegro will be one of his stops. "It is expected that Montenegro will receive an action plan for accession to NATO at the December sitting of the Alliance, an anonymous source in the media informed." [7]
Less than a year ago "Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic...tabled at NATO headquarters in Brussels Montenegro's demand on an action plan for membership." [8]
A Membership Action Plan (MAP) is the final stage toward full NATO membership. Earlier this month Bosnia officially applied for the MAP and the nation's defense minister Selmo Cikotic on October 29 demonstrated the dual nature of NATO incorporation - subjugating new member states and integrating them into a global war strategy - in speaking of the two topics as interconnected. He said à ‚¬Å"In Bosnia's case, participation in the [Afghan] mission is also related to progress on the road to NATO membership...regardless of the risks.
"In the current situation, when our politics are war by other means, NATO membership would resolve all open security issues. All other alternatives are highly risky." [9]
The allusion, hardly subtle, is to efforts by the United States, NATO and the European Union to use membership in the last two organizations as both carrot and stick to revoke what autonomy the Bosnian Serb Republic (Republika Srpska) retains in the West's drive to centralize Bosnia as a whole under the control of Brussels and Washington.
On October 30 the Bosnian Serb Republic's prime minister, Milorad Dodik, said "he would pull out of talks on constitutional reform led by the United States and European Union set to speed up Bosnia's path to EU and NATO membership."
Speaking of the withdrawal, Dodik said "It's a defeat of politicians from the federation who agree to meet only in the presence of the international community. I will never again take part in any talks mediated by the international community." [10]
Less than two weeks before NATO chief Rasmussen laid down the law to Serbia and to the few Serbs remaining in Kosovo. In an interview with a local newspaper, while pushing the standard Western line that "further Euro-Atlantic integration either through partnership or membership in NATO, or in the EU, is the best guarantee of long-term stability in the Balkans," he issued the following warning, in fact an ultimatum: "I especially hope that Belgrade will not encourage Kosovo Serbs not to take part in the forthcoming elections. If Kosovo Serbs wish to secure that their legitimate interests and rights are being respected, then they must take part in the political process." [11]
The NATO chief will brook no opposition, no hint of independence, from Serbs in Kosovo, in Bosnia or in Serbia itself. Or from anyone else in the Balkans except for the bloc's allies in the former KLA and affiliated armed separatist groups. [12]
NATO's intention to "resolve all open security issues" in the Balkans is belied by the Alliance's member states at every turn acting to destabilize interstate relations in the region, from the encouragement of Kosovo's secession - which the United States was the first to legitimize through diplomatic recognition - to more recent examples.
Earlier this month Kosovo and Macedonia delimited the boundary between them and in so doing attempted to establish it as an international border without consultations with Serbia, whose territory Kosovo remains in the view of over two-thirds of the nations in the world.
On October 9 the new U.S. ambassador to Kosovo, Christopher Dell, "confirmed...he has met Kosovo President and Prime Minister Fatmir Sejdiu and Hashim Thaci on the demarcation of the Kosovo-Macedonian border." [13]
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